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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BHNRC) » Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center » Food Surveys Research Group » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #279655

Title: The USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies, 5.0

Author
item Ahuja, Jaspreet
item Montville, Janice
item Omolewa-Tomobi, Grace
item Heendeniya, Kaushalya
item Martin, Carrie
item Steinfeldt, Lois
item Anand, Jaswinder
item Adler, Meghan
item Lacomb, Randy
item Moshfegh, Alanna

Submitted to: Worldwide Web Site: Food Surveys Research Group
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/20/2012
Publication Date: 3/23/2012
Citation: Ahuja, J.K., Montville, J.B., Omolewa-Tomobi, G., Heendeniya, K.Y., Martin, C.L., Steinfeldt, L.C., Anand, J., Adler, M.E., LaComb, R.P., Moshfegh, A.J. 2012. The USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies, 5.0. Worldwide Web Site: Food Surveys Research Group. Available: http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=12089.

Interpretive Summary: The USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) is an extensive database of foods as consumed in the U.S. It is used to code foods and portion sizes and to calculate nutrients for the large-scale federal food consumption survey, What We Eat In America (WWEIA), the dietary intake component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). FNDDS contains information for more than 7,000 foods, including many brand name products. Values for food energy and 64 other nutrients are included for each food, as well as weights for common portions of the food. Many of these values are derived from the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference (SR), Release 24. The U.S. food supply is constantly changing, with thousands of new products and packages introduced each year. FNDDS is regularly updated to reflect the current state of the U.S. food market and to support processing of WWEIA. New versions of FNDDS are released every two years to accompany the release of the NHANES dietary intake data. This update (version 5.0) of FNDDS was used to process food intakes from WWEIA, NHANES 2009-2010. Extensive documentation, valuable to both new and previous users, accompanies the database. This includes a table describing changes to the database since the previous version (4.1). The database is released in three formats: as a Microsoft Access® database, as a SAS® dataset, and as ASCII text files. The database can be downloaded on-line, thus putting a valuable dietary research tool at the fingertips of the users. The database may be used in conjunction with research utilizing dietary data from WWEIA, NHANES 2009-2010, or it may be used in other dietary studies. The availability and accessibility of the FNDDS is beneficial to public policy administrators and other government groups, to dietitians and the food industry, as well as to scientists conducting research that involves collecting food intake data.

Technical Abstract: The USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) 5.0 is used to code foods and portion sizes and to calculate nutrients for national food surveys. This version of the FNDDS was used to process food intakes from What We Eat In America (WWEIA), the dietary intake component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2009-2010. The database includes descriptions for more than 7,000 foods; over 30,000 weights for common food portions; and food energy and 64 nutrient/food components for each of these foods. Nutrient values for FNDDS foods are based upon values in the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 24 (SR24) and are documented in the FNDDS-SR Links file. FNDDS 5.0 includes three files that previously were available only upon request. The Modifications Descriptions file and the Modifications Nutrient Values file provide data for foods reported in WWEIA, NHANES 2009-2010 where the predefined FNDDS-SR Links were modified to match more closely the food as described by the respondent. Also included with this release is an Excel® file that holds the descriptions and nutrient values for 38 SR codes used in the FNDDS-SR Links file that are not released on SR24. The database is available for downloading from the FSRG Web site in three formats: as a Microsoft Access® database, as a SAS® dataset, and as ASCII text files. The Web site http://www.ars.usda.gov/ba/bhnrc/fsrg includes detailed downloading instructions and extensive documentation describing the database. The documentation is also included as an integral part of the database download package.